Die Iberische Halbinsel im frühen Mittelalter: Ausgangspunkt für interkulturelle Kontakte zwischen den Ottonen und den andalusischen Muslimen

In light of two new strands of research, this study’s focus on the contacts between the world of the Iberian Peninsula in the premodern world, and the interest in Christian-Muslim relations globally, brings together two related texts from the early Middle Ages that illustrate a significant proximity between both cultures. Hrotsvit von Gandersheim’s “Pelagius” and the contemporary vita of the abbot Johannes of Gorze demonstrate that 10th-century Christian audiences north of the Alps were considerably informed about the situation in the Iberian Peninsula and made significant efforts to learn about the political and religious conditions there. Together, the literary account and the biographical narrative confirm a much more open exchange between both worlds than has previously been assumed.